Magnetic hard disk drives retrieve and/or store data in computers and other consumer electronics devices. A magnetic hard disk drive includes one or more heads that can read and write information on a corresponding magnetic surface of a spinning disk. Each head is a sub-component of a head gimbal assembly (HGA). The HGA also includes a suspension assembly for holding the head and providing a plurality of electrical connections thereto. The suspension assembly typically includes a load beam, and a fragile laminated flexure to carry the electrical signals to and from the head.
The head typically comprises a slider that includes an air bearing surface (ABS) that faces the magnetic disk surface, a trailing face, and a back face that is opposite the ABS and that faces away from the ABS. A magnetic sensor and a plurality of head bond pads are typically disposed on the trailing face of the slider. Conventionally, the back face of the slider is typically permanently bonded to a tongue portion of the fragile laminated flexure by an adhesive, in a position such that the plurality of head bond pads are aligned with corresponding bond pads on the laminated flexure.
However, market demand for disk drives with higher areal data density has motivated development of conventional fine actuators to produce relative motion between the flexure tongue and the head. Such conventional fine actuators are intended to desirably enable the head to read and write with smaller spacing between data tracks written on the disk. But the actual relative motion between the flexure tongue and the head produced by such fine actuators may be hindered or limited by conventional flexure designs, which may not be compliant enough to allow such relative motion without unacceptably high force, torque, and/or stress.
For example, in some cases, a conventional flexure may have acceptable compliance until its flexure bond pads are bonded to the head, after which the conventional flexure presents unacceptably high stiffness to the fine actuator. Hence, there is a need in the art for a flexure design that is compliant enough (after bonding of the flexure bond pads) to allow a conventional fine actuator to produce relative motion between the flexure tongue and the head, with increased stroke and/or reduced force, torque, or stress.